


crying is contagious

by noyabeans (snowdrops)



Series: writing with snowdrops (saso 2017) [11]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Post-Match, Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 08:11:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11528157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowdrops/pseuds/noyabeans
Summary: “If you’re going to say you’re sorry, spare it,” Hajime says, and Oikawa looks up, startled at his gruff tone. “You don’t owe any of us an apology.”





	crying is contagious

**Author's Note:**

> fill for **saso 2017 bonus round 4: quotes**.  
>  original prompt is [here](https://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/23665.html?thread=14428273#cmt14428273).
> 
> quote:  
> « We joked around, acted foolishly  
> We talked of useless things, and  
> We cried and laughed, comforted each other  
> So we sing an endless song now  
> Dream as if you will live forever  
> And live as if you'll die today »  
> \- _Chaosmyth_ , ONE OK ROCK
> 
> Inspired by the [Seijou extra chapter: The Battle Doesn't End](http://hajimeiwaizumi.tumblr.com/post/125903316047). Set after [this page](http://i.imgur.com/MVjchel.png) in particular.

“So this is it, huh.”

Hanamaki’s voice is quiet, but in the silence engulfing the room his words hang loud, less a question and more a statement. Oikawa shuts his locker; there is a note of finality in the click it makes as he turns the lock and stares at the key clutched in his hand for a moment.

Hajime doesn’t miss the way his shoulders stiffen, like they always do when he’s about to say something serious, or bracing himself for a killer serve. “I –”

“If you’re going to say you’re sorry, spare it,” Hajime says, and Oikawa looks up, startled at his gruff tone. “You don’t owe any of us an apology.” _And you don’t owe yourself one either_ , he decides against adding.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa protests, though his shoulders visibly relax. “I wasn’t about to apologise.”

Hajime raises an unimpressed eyebrow, not entirely persuaded, but refrains from saying anything else. Oikawa huffs, before turning to meet their eyes, his gaze flickering from Hanamaki leaning against a locker to Hajime and Matsukawa on the changing bench to Yuda and Sawauchi and Shido near the door.

“It’s been an honour being your captain,” he says, and everyone can hear the way his voice tightens at the end of his sentence, and there, laid bare before them in all its vulnerable glory for the second time in less than an hour is Oikawa’s honesty, stripped of any pretence of charming smiles and easy laughter. Hajime has not seen this look in Oikawa’s eyes for a very long time.

“You’re going to make us all cry again,” Matsukawa says wryly. “Crying is contagious, you know?”

That drags a watery laugh out of Oikawa. “Excuse me, I have an infectious personality.”

There’s an unrefined harrumph from Yuda that chokes off prematurely into a half-sob, and the sound seems to set off a flurry of movement in the room. Hajime stands up, pulling Oikawa into a hug, letting Oikawa lean against his shoulders and feeling the way Oikawa’s tears burn through his shirt, just like they had when they were children and Oikawa had fallen down a slope while trying to get to the riverbanks and scraped his arms and knees; around them there is sudden warmth as a tangle of arms and bodies surround them – he can feel someone’s chest heaving with soundless cries, and Hajime feels himself give in to the frustration and disappointment that has been welling deep inside him all day.

That their best wasn’t enough, and that the team he’d fought so badly with to carve a path to victory should fall short of their goal when they were just within reach of it. That their time on the court had come to its end like this, even before they ever made it to the Tokyo gymnasium. 

That this was _life_ , and it _sucked_ , and they damn well knew it, but it didn’t mean it hurt any less.

Then someone pulls away, and someone else is rubbing comforting circles on his back, and Matsukawa’s saying, “Now we all need to get pork buns to make ourselves happy again.”

“Our treat,” Hanamaki adds. “Because our captain and vice-captain deserve to be treated once in a while too.”

**Author's Note:**

> @ google: when will I stop writing angsty seijou
> 
> [tumblr (rielity)](https://rielity.tumblr.com/) | [twitter (noyabeans)](https://twitter.com/noyabeans) | [haikyuu writing journal](https://noyabeans.dreamwidth.org/)


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